Wire-tinning machine



W. F. HOSFOHD. WIRE TlNNlNG MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25. 1918.

Patexited July 20, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

. F. HOSFORDJ WIRE TINNING MACHINE-- APPLICATION FILED MAR- 25, ms.

PatentedJuly 20, 192 0.

W. F. HOSFORD. WIRE TINNING MACHINE. APPLICATIION FILED MAR-25,1918.v

Pzitented July 20, 1920;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ww wx UNITED T To all whom it may concern,

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. HOSFORD, a citizen of the United States, residin at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Tinning Machines, of which the following is a full,

' clear, concise, and exact description.

. plying spools are mounted This invention relates to wire tinning machines, aiid more particularly to wire tinning machines similar to that disclosed in the Patent No. 1,248,107 issued November 27, 1917', to J. D. Hathaway and to which reference may be had for a description of the general features of the process and apparatus. v

The object of this invention is to produce a machine of this.character which will be very compact in structure, efiicient in operation, and capable of tinning a large number ofseparate strands of wire simultaneously. 1 1

' One of the features of this invention resides in the construction, combination, and assembly of parts whereby all of them-may be embodied in a single compact structure on one supporting frame. In accordance with this feature of the invention, wire supon the side of the frame near one end, take-up reels and winding mechanism on the same side of the frame near the opposite end, and the acid, tin, and cooling baths are mounted upon the top of the machine in a position to be easily accessible to the operator. The wire supply reels at one end of the frame are mounted in a staggered relation in the same horizontal plane and the take-up reels at the other end of the frame are mounted in a similar relation to each other, thus making these reels easily accessible and non inte'rfering.

A further feature of the invention relates to the means for assembling into a small" space, with all parts easily accessible for eflicient operation, .the apparatus for tinning simultaneously alarge number of se arate strands of wire. In accordance wlth this feature of the invention, complete tinning apparatus is provided upon opposite sides of the same frame, each apparatus being capable of handling simultaneously a plurality of wires, the number of wires han- Specification of Letters Patent.

'of th convenience or danger.

'r OFFICE.

INOIS,'ASSIGNOR T0 WESTERN ELECTRIC .YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW I WIRE-TIN m G MACHIDTE.

Patented July 20,1920.

Application filed March 25, 1918. Serial No. 224,508.

about its pivot when released to recelve the I wire which is to be fed through the bath. This combined with the non-interfering arrangement of the supply and take-up reels enables an operator to replace an empty supply reel or take care of a broken strand wlthout interrupting the tinning. operation e remaining strands and without in- Another feature of this invention is the combining of the pivotally; supported arms into a sectional cover for the tinning bath which prevents the oxidation of the molten tin and confines the fumes which would otherwise have to be carried away by means of a hood.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

.Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section in diagrammatm form on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; 151g. 4 1s a plan view of the tinning bath, an a a Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 thereof.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, thecomplete machine is composed of two independently operated and driven machines carried upon a slngle supporting frame 10 built from two similar side frame members 11 and 12 and end standards 13 and 14. Inter- .each strand being run from a-supply spool each independent machine.

end thereof and near the through the acid, wiping,

- the machines willbe sufiicient.

The motor 17 which is mounted from the central support drives the machine mounted on the side frame 12. The motor shaft has a pinion 20 which in turn drives a link chain 21 connected to a gear 22 on the main drive shaft 23. The main drive shaft connects with suitable gearing which drives the capstans 24. This main drive shaft also carries a pinion 25 which in turn meshes' with a gear 26 mounted directly below on a shaft suitably journaled from the side frame 12. This last mentioned shaft at the other end thereof has the gear 27 meshing with-a link chain 28 driving a suitable reversing mechanism 29. A shaft 30 extends from the reversing mechanism and has mounted thereon plmons 31. The object of this reversing mechanism will hereafter which the wire passes.

the wire in case the wire breaks,

be described in connection with the take-up reels. Any suitable reversing mechanism may be used in which the motion of rotation of its main driving shaft is reversed at reular intervals.

ounted in a staggered relation on the same horizontal plane and set at increasing widths from the longitudinal center line of the machine, at one end of the side frame 12 and about intermediate the height of the machine, are brackets 35 carrying wire supplying spools 36. The brackets 35 are equipped with brake or tension devices as illustrated in Fig. 1, upon which the wire acts while passing from the supply spools. This brake consists of a bell crank lever 37 pivoted at the bottom of a bracket 35 and carrying a sheave 38 at its outer end under Attached to the lever 37 by a yielding connection intermediate its pivotand the sheave 38 is a round leather belt 39, which passes over a grooved sheave 40 mounted fast on the wire supply spool shaft and in the rear of the wire supply spool 36, the end being attached to the bracket 35. The belt is held tightly in the groove of the sheave 40 by a spring 41 acting against the long arm of the bell crank lever 37.

The object of this brake is to stop the spool 36 from overrunning and unwinding in which case the lever 37 would drop, due to the action of a spring 42 one end of which is attached to the short arm of the bell crank lever 37, the other end restingagainst the bracket 35. This will result in the tightening of the belt 39 in the groove of the sheave 46, the belt otherwise being held loosely in with no braking effect on the to the action of the wire being passes through the air wiper is packed run through the machine which slightly raises the lever 37.

From the sheave 38 the wire passes up and over suitable guiding sheaves 45 and 46 and enters the acidbath where, by passing between layers of felt soaked in a suitable acid and under pressure of a cover 48, the wire is cleaned of all dirt, grease; and oxid. The wire after passing from the acid bath p which dries the wire. This air wiper consists of a pipe 50 with nozzles 51 which spray a jet of compressed air on the wire as it asses between as best illustrated in Big. 2.

asses over them,

From the air wiper the wire the guiding sheaves 52 and into t e tin bath 55, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 5. As shown, the tin bath 55 consists of a hollow metal container 56 for the holding of the liquid'tin, and is set into a chamber formed in the bracket 18. The container 56 is provided with a flan e 57 by means of which it is fastened to t e bracket orfi table 18. Placed directly below the container 56 is an electrical heating element 58- consisting of a number of turns of high resistance wire embedded in a housing. 59 of any suitable cement. Connected tothe electrical heating element in a suitable manner are the conductors 60 and 61- leading from a source of current. Below the electrical heating element 58 with its housing 59 the chamber full of a suitable heat insulating material. This arrangement of putting m a heat resisting material under the electrical heating element and a heat conducting substance above the heating element forces all the heat upw results in greater efliciency in the operation thereof. I

Spanning the opening in the container 56 are a series of levers 65-, 65. Theseleve'rs 65 and side pieces 66 and 67 form a cover for the tin bath and are pivoted at one end to a shaft 68, this same end terminating also in an arm 69 to which is pivoted a rod 70 passrd and into the tin bath, and

and outwardly extending lug 72, and pivoted y at the end thereof is a handle member 73.

' The lower part of the handle member 73 is latch shaped so as to lock into a notch 74 cut into a rod 75 which extends across the width of the five levers. 65 and is supported in bearings 76 and 77 carried by the container 56. Near the center of the lever 65 an arm 80 extends down into the container 56 and is equipped with a sheave 81 under which the wire passes. Near its pivot the lever 65 contains a sleeve 82, in which a holder 83 for .a diamond die is mounted. The position of the sleeve 82 is such that the die is partly immersed in the molten tin.

I As the wire passes through the die the excess tin is removed, leaving a thin coating, while at the same time the wire is slightly drawn in order to keep a uniform size. An opening is formed in side piece 66 of the tin bath connecting. with a flue 100, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which also connects with a corresponding side piece on the other machine. The object of this flue is to carry ofl any fumes. arising from the fluid tin. To thread the wire through the tin bath the operator releases the latch from the bar 7 5 which will allow the lever 65 to turn upon its pivot, due to the action of the counterweight 71, and move upward, carrying the sheave 81 and the die holder 83 which is partly immersed in the fluid tin. This allows the operator to quickly thread the wire through the holder 83 .carrying the die. This threading operation occurs whenever the operator replaces an empty supply reel or takes care of a broken strand. The operator in bringing the lever down again turns it about its pivot against the action of the counter-weight 71 and replaces the latch in the notch 74 in the rod 75, the wire entering underneath the top ofthe levers through a slot 84 in the end wall thereof.

The five levers 65 forming together with the side pieces 66 and 67 a complete cover for the tin bath and each lever being pivoted separately, results in a very eflicient construction, in that the opening made by the raising of one lever does not seriously lower the temperature of the fluid tin and does not interfere with the tinning of the other strands.

After emerging from the tin bath the tinned wire passes over the guide sheaves 85 mounted on the shaft '68 into the cooling bath 86 which consists of a shallow metal box containing running water. This box is slotted at each end and is fitted with felt pads covering these slots. The wires run through slots in the felt pads which are used to raise the water level above the wire, the surplus water being removed from the wire by an air wiper 87 immediately upon leaving the cooling bath. This air wiper 87 is similar to the previously mentioned air wiper 49 used in connection with the acid bath 47.

After passing the air wiper 87 the wire is wound several times around the capstan 24. The capstans 24, 24 are located at the opposite end and near the top of the side frame 12 on which the wire supplying spools are mounted, and are set at increasing widths from the longitudinal center line of the machine in reverse order to that of the wire supplying spools.' The capstans 24, 24, as previously mentioned, receive their motion through suitable gearing from the main drive shaft 23. Each capstan is engaged or disengaged at will by the operator through a tion from the pinion 31 carried by the shaft 30 which receives its motion from the reversing mechanism 29. The object of this re versing mechanism is to continuously reverse the motion of the shaft 30, thereby moving back and forth the rack 93 carryingtheguide sheaves 92 which will serve to distribute the wire uniformly over the surface of a take-up reel 94. The take=up reels are located just below the distributer mechanism and are each driven by separate and suitable gearing each controlled by a separate disk clutch mounted on the capstan shaft, thereby maintaining the same peripheral speed between the take-up reel 94 and the capstans-24.

. What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a main supporting frame, a set of supply spools mounted on one-side of said frame at one end thereof, a second set of supply spools mounted upon the opposite side and end of said frame from the first-mentioned supply spools, a set of take-up reels for each set of said supply spools mounted upon opposite sides of said frame, and a pair of tinning apparatuses mounted upon opposite sides of said frame.

2. In a machine for tinning .a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a main supporting frame, two sets of wire supply spools mounted at opposite ends and upon opposite sides of said frame, the spools of each set being horizontally staggered with respect to each other, two sets of take- 3. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a main supporting frame, a complete tinning apparatus mounted upon each side of said frame each tinning apparatus comprising a set of supply reels mounted upon the side of v the frame at one end thereof, a set of takeup reels mounted upon the side of the frame at the opposite ends thereof the spools and reels being horizontally staggered with respecttol each other, a tinning bath, and a driving mechanism for the take-up reels.

4. In a machine for tinning a plurality of wires simultaneously, a main supporting frame comprising a pair of side members tapered from the center toward each end and each side member being provided with longitudinally staggered surfaces, a center member and end members connecting said side members, a set of supply spools and a set of take-up reels mounted upon each of said side members, a tinning apparatus mounted upon each side of said frame and upon opposite sides of said center member, and driving apparatus for each set of takeup reels mounted between said side frame members.

5. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a frame for supporting separate machines comprising side members equipped with a plurality of side faces in a staggered relation, supply and take-up reels mounted on said side faces in non-interfering relation below the tinning apparatus, and end standards for connecting and supporting. said side members.

6. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a frame for supporting two separate machines comprising similar side members equipped with a plurality of stepped vertical faces at each end thereof, supply and take-up' reels mounted in non-interfering relation below the tinning apparatus on said vertical f'aces, and end standards for connecting and sup-- porting said side members.

7. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a frame for supporting separately driven machines comprising two similar side members each of said members supporting one of said machines and equipped with a plurality of stepped vertical faces at each end thereof, supply and take-up reels mounted in non} interfering relation below the. tinning apparatus on said stepped faces, end standards for connecting and supporting said side members, a center standard for supporting driving means for said machines and as an additional connecting and supporting means for said side members, and driving means supported upon said center standard.

8. In a machine for tinning a plurality of separate wire strands simultaneously, a frame, tinning apparatus mounted upon said frame, means for guiding each strand individually through said tinning ap aratus said means also forming a covering or said tinning apparatus and comprising a series of latch released members adapted to move upward automatically upon being unlatched.

9. In a machine for tinning a plurality of wire strands simultaneously, a frame, tinning apparatus mounted upon said frame, means for guiding each strand individually through said tinning apparatus said means also forming a covering apparatus and comprising a series of latch released, fulcrumed and weighted levers adapted to automatically turn upon their fulcrum upon being unlatched to raise the guide from the tinning apparatus.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 14th day of March, A. D. 1918.

WILLIAM F. HOSFORD.

for said tinning 

